What's a word you've spent a long time not using right?
Just recently I was in a conversation with a number of UK mainlanders and we had a debate over what "tories" meant, apparently disproportionately ordinarily it refers to a political party and it's not usual to use it as short for "territories" as I've used it (according to how the debate ended, it was half and half between them). And once again I'm reminded of how people feel to look back at their usage of a word/phrase over the years and cringe.
More tragically, me and a friend were embarrassed once upon realizing everyone was confusing "encephalitis" with "hydrocephalus" when talking to someone about their kid with hydrocephalus. Awkward because encephalitis is caused by HIV.
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I used poignant wrong for a long time, when it came to describing memories. I thought it meant the memories were strong, clear sensory ones but it meant sad ones.
I think both uses are correct. It can mean any strong/intense feeling:
TIL. I've been making the same mistake and had to look it up as a result of this comment.
When I was younger I actually thought "poignant" was how some accents say "pregnant". Cue unnecessary congratulations.
I would say it means strong but with an implied sadness, but you can have positive poignant memories too - you’d just have to state they were positive. The day I graduated from University was poignant because it was the end of an era and the start of another, but it doesn’t mean it is a sad memory.